Polish Your Post: 10 Tips for Better Blogging

By Robert Morris/ Writing blogs that will capture the hearts of your audience and influence their standings on a particular subject doesn’t only require writing talent. There are many blogs people read, comment on and subscribe to, but what about the lack of editing and proofreading. We all try to write engaging and inviting content, but don't offend your readers by not spending time to correct the obvious mistakes. In order to hit the mark, a blog post requires a great deal of thinking and planning, as well as some self-editing that will bring it close to perfection. Make sure to make your blog posts as great as you can before publishing them. Try using these helpful tips and take your blogging more seriously.

1. Hook your reader right from the start

Editing goes beyond simple proofreading; it involves making your content more captivating for the reader and finding the best way to re-phrase sentences that don’t work. Pay a lot of attention to the opening paragraph. It should captivate the reader and inspire them to read the whole thing. Show your readers that you care about their particular worries, concerns, and challenges associated to the topic and make them confident that you have the solution. Think of a person interested to read the blog you’re working on. What question would they ask? Take that question and turn it into an opening line.

2. Don’t ramble in the introduction

If you’re providing tips on how to sell more books, for example, no one wants to go through an entire synopsis that’s not directly associated to the topic. The introduction should be short and right on spot. Blog readers are mostly interested in quick tips that are easy to read and implement into practice. Keep the post in present tense and don’t write an extensive introduction – make it short and powerful!

3. Blog posts have theses, too.

If you thought that theses were something your professors tortured you with, here is a surprise: blogs need them too. A strong thesis will help maintain focus to the purpose of your article and construct it more easily. Clarify the thesis at the end of the introduction and let the reader know what the post will be talking about.

4. Avoid long sentences

People see blogs as quick reads. If they want to be tortured by long sentences that use rare words, they will look for a book or an academic article. Write in active tone and keep all sentences short.

5. Add more & better content, not more words

A sentence can be made more powerful with a single phrase or word, such as fact. Make sure to add authority to your writing by being sure about the things you stand behind.

6. Don’t write endless blog posts

If the post is too long, many potential readers will lose interest in it. Don’t try to stress how much you know about a certain subject and avoid lengthy posts that will drive a reader away. If the topic requires more elaborating, you can separate the text into few linked blog posts and serve them on a daily basis.

7. Don’t generalize

Generalizing is the worst thing you could do for your blog. Your readers’ emotions will stay intact if you don’t trick them into reading something specific they can relate to. Think of a category you can relate to, like consultants, coaches, photographers, and so on. If you use names and specific nouns you will bring yourself closer to readers immediately.

8. You like adverbs? Readers don’t!

Adverbs don’t show; they tell. Instead of saying that someone is very fat, use the word obese. When there is a word for something – use it and don’t try to explain it by using adverbs.

9. Leave out adjectives too

Now that we cleared the air on adverbs, let’s convince you to let go of another thing you love: adjectives. Don’t try to fill blog posts by adding incredible, amazing, unmatched or other adjectives. Adjectives don't always make statements more powerful.

10. Get rid of extraneous material

The worst thing for a blogger is making a reader yawn before getting to the end of an article. Oh wait; there is one thing that’s worse: readers leaving the article after the first few sentences. Avoid that from happening by eliminating redundancies and repetition from your posts. Editing is all about knowing what to keep, what to add and what to leave out.

Turn a blog post into a real pieces of writing art by making smart choices during the editing process. By becoming a great editor, the audience will understand you better and your blog posts will be better received.

Robert Morris is a professional writer from custom essay writing service Ninjaessays.com. Loves writing tips and tricks for students. He is interested in improving his writing and learning through technology.